Shares of Noble Corporation (NYSE:NE) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirty brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.62.

NE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Jaffray Companies reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $2.85 target price on shares of Noble in a research note on Sunday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on shares of Noble in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $4.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $5.00 price target on shares of Noble and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 7th. Cowen set a $3.00 price target on shares of Noble and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 18th. Finally, ValuEngine lowered shares of Noble from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, December 1st.

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Noble (NE) traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $4.17. 1,854,392 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,184,917. Noble has a 12-month low of $3.14 and a 12-month high of $8.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Noble (NYSE:NE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The oil and gas company reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.36). Noble had a negative net margin of 136.22% and a negative return on equity of 3.94%. The firm had revenue of $266.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 30.9% compared to the same quarter last year. analysts forecast that Noble will post -1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Texas Permanent School Fund raised its stake in Noble by 0.8% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 178,646 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $647,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Asset Management Co. raised its stake in Noble by 6.9% in the second quarter. Capstone Asset Management Co. now owns 61,720 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,960 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Noble by 9.1% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 48,685 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 4,047 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Noble by 0.8% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,470,919 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,325,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Noble by 2.8% in the third quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 444,840 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,046,000 after purchasing an additional 12,067 shares in the last quarter. 87.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Noble Company Profile

Noble Corporation is an offshore drilling contractor for the oil and gas industry. The Company performs contract drilling services with its fleet of 79 mobile offshore drilling units and one floating production storage and offloading unit (NYSE:NE) located globally.